Portrait of Hacham Shimon Agassi

Friday, September 12, 2014

Beraishit 16.12- בראשית

Ishmael- a wild ass of a man

12.’ And he shall be a wild ass of a man; his hand against everything, and every man's hand against him; and over all his brothers he shall dwell-וְהוּא יִהְיֶה פֶּרֶא אָדָם יָדוֹ בַכֹּל וְיַד כֹּל בּוֹ וְעַל פְּנֵי כָל אֶחָיו יִשְׁכֹּן (1225=10=1 or 2435=14=8 counting final Nun and Mem as 700 and 600).

The verse can be divided so:

·And he shall be a wild ass of a man-וְהוּא יִהְיֶה פֶּרֶא אָדָם (374+4 words=18);·His hand against everything, and every man's hand against him; and over all his brothers he shall dwell- יָדוֹ בַכֹּל וְיַד כֹּל בּוֹ וְעַל פְּנֵי כָל אֶחָיו יִשְׁכֹּן(1501+10 words=1511=8).

Rashi comments here that Ishmael loved dwelling in deserts and hunting (see Beraishit 21.20) and he was a bandit. All would hate him and provoke him yet his offspring were numerous.

Nothing has changed after 3500 years except that now Ishmael is turning the western nations of Edom into a desert. The tremendous immigration of Muslims into Europe will be a source of much tension and hatred, eventually leading to the destruction and desolation of these countries from within turning them into spiritual and physical "deserts". Edom will receive its "just deserts" through Ishmael for persecuting the Jewish People for centuries.

A wild ass of a man

Pereh Adam

פֶּרֶא אָדָם

886+2 words=888(Mem 600)

The words "wild ass of a man"-פֶּרֶא אָדָם"pereh adam" teach us that there is a connection between Ishmael and "Parah Adumah"-פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה, the Red Heifer. This connection I explain in Parshat Terumah and Parshat Chukkat. The following gematriot prove this inner connection:

Pereh Adam-Parah Adumah

פֶּרֶא אָדָם- פָרָה אֲדֻמָּה

661+4 words=17=8

1221+4 words=10=1

At the end of Days the Mashiach will arrive and slaughter the 10th and final Red Heifer finally ridding the world of impurity and the egotistical pride of Ishmael.